


Unforgivable

by sunliqhtmoon



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: F/M, Heartbreak, Major character death - Freeform, Redemption, Sad, Siblings, Zutara, sorry - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-13
Updated: 2020-07-13
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:15:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 950
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25238323
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunliqhtmoon/pseuds/sunliqhtmoon
Summary: What if Katara couldn’t heal Zuko?
Relationships: Katara/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 54





	Unforgivable

**Author's Note:**

> I have never written a fanfic before but I got this idea and wanted to suffer <3

It happened in a blur. The fighting. The fire. The lightning. It was like her body was working with a mind of its own as Katara could barely register what was happening. It wasn’t until she was draining the water around Azula that she even realized what she had just managed to do, and then she was off.

Without a second to waste she was practically floating above the ground as she raced to Zuko’s limp body. Before she could even think about what she was doing she flung herself beside him as she lifted his head with her hand making him face her.

His eyes had fallen shut as he grunted in pain. Without a word Katara began her attempt to heal Zuko. But after a moment Katara knew something was wrong. The water around her hands seemed to simply float above the star shaped burn on Zuko’s abdomen instead of heal the skin. The healing was slow and her hands stung like fire as she continued until she could no longer handle the pain. She quickly took her right hand away for a moment to examine her palm and saw her fear and nervousness was justified. 

A burn mark. 

The rush of adrenaline and lack of comprehension of the events that had just taken place all suddenly came together falling around her. Azula was smart at her worst, burning the chains with a singe of fire just a second before Katara would try to tie her down to the sewage pipes, it was calculated and precise. Just as anyone should’ve expected.

In the air hung the sound of Azula’s cries helpless and angry calling out for anyone to help her.

“No no no no no,” Katara whispered to herself. Her eyes filled with tears as the realization hit her. Her healing wouldn’t work while her hands were so weak.

She found herself pleading to the moon spirits that somehow someone somewhere would be able to bring her bending back just for a moment. Just enough to heal the boy next to her. The boy who had jumped in front of lightning for her. The one who risked his life for her. The one who might just die... and he did it for her.

Her tears were interrupted in that moment as she watched a soft pale hand close around hers. She turned her face towards his to see his eyelids opened just enough to look at her. He took a breath but before he could even say something Katara interjected.

“I’m so sorry. Zuko please! Please please please please stay with me. Please i’m begging you, I’m sorry. I know I already told you I forgive you but I do. I do! I forgive you for everything! Just please please don’t let go,” Katara pleaded the tears running down her cheeks and past her chin. 

Zuko stared up at her gasping for breath as she squeezed tighter around his hand. She could feel his hands become clammier by the second. 

Zuko looked at her eyes filling with his own tears and there was a deep sorrow there that made her heart stop. 

“I’m-“ he gasped, “I’m sorry too.” 

Katara’s tears fell faster, and harder. She felt like all the emotion she had every experienced in her life was pouring out of her. 

Katara released her her hands from his and instead grabbed her face pulling it towards her. 

Her eyes red from tears she forced Zuko to look at her. “Stop! Don’t you start apologizing to me right now, please. I-I don’t wanna hear it, Zuko. You-You can apologize in recovery but if you die I will never forgive you I can’t a-and I won’t.” 

Katara was practically screaming at this point. The sound of Azula’s cries faintly fell upon her ears as the rage and desperation boiled inside of her. She had nothing else left in her to lose. She watched as Zuko’s eye lids started flicker. 

“Zuko! Say something! Please! Anything! I need to know that you can hear me please!” Katara cried as she held his head in her hands lightly shaking him even in her frantic state.

Katara watched through her blurred vision blocked by the tears in her eyes as he slowly and softly tucked a loose strand of her hair behind her ear. 

Then with his soft raspy voice just sounding a little lighter than usual he said, “You might never forgive me. But I hope you know, for you, I would do it again.”

Katara froze at his words. A silence surrounded her. Unmoving and still until she tilted her head down just slightly as she released the breath she hadn’t realized she had been holding. 

A breath that she wished she could’ve given to Zuko as his hand slowly fell from her face to the ground beneath them. 

And then, as Zuko let out a final breath of fire, the screams came again.

A scream that Katara didn’t know was humanly possible. She felt her throat burn as she screamed Zuko’s name while cradling his lifeless body in her arms. 

All the while Azula seemed to scream out as she began to understand what she had just done. 

“Zuko! NO! Zuko I’m sorry! I said it okay! I’m sorry! Zuko! Zuko! Zuko! Answer me!” Was all that Katara could manage to hear her say before the world around her seemed to disappear as she fell into a moment of her own.

As the sky went red, the air filled with the faint sounds of two girls screaming, one pleading for the boy whom she had so lovingly forgiven, and the other of whom begged the same boy to be forgiven.


End file.
